SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – November 17, 2014 – Today Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler announced his plan to complete the modernization of the federal E-rate program, ensuring that all of America’s schools and libraries are connected to high-speed broadband within the next five years.
EducationSuperHighway applauds the Chairman for moving swiftly to bring greater
educational opportunity to every student in America. In July, the FCC took the first step to update the 18-year-old E-rate program by voting to improve transparency, set connectivity goals, phase out legacy services, and upgrade Wi-Fi in schools. But it was clear there was more work to do to bring affordable and scalable broadband to every school and library. The Chairman’s plan moves to close that gap by connecting all schools and libraries to fiber, improving the affordability of broadband through enhanced competition and choices for schools, and increasing the resources in the program to account for growing bandwidth demand.
“Chairman Wheeler has demonstrated incredible leadership and commitment to ensuring that all of America’s students can take advantage of the promise of digital learning,” said Evan Marwell, CEO of EducationSuperHighway. “I am encouraged by the Chairman’s proposal to improve fiber access to our rural communities and to drive down the cost of broadband by increasing the competitive options for our schools and libraries.”
About EducationSuperHighway
EducationSuperHighway is a non-profit organization working to enable high-speed Internet access in every classroom in America so that all students can take advantage of the promise of digital learning. Backed by Mark Zuckerberg’s Startup:Education and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the team of educators, engineers, and business executives is led by successful entrepreneur Evan Marwell.
